RP: Something's Not Right
Date: 2 February 2006Characters: Seamus, Rosmerta, SusanLocation: The Three BroomsticksPrivate/Public: PrivateRating: RWarnings: The aftermath of this thread.Summary: Seamus comes to work on the morning after.

Seamus cursed when he looked down at his watch and realised that he was late for work. Rosie had asked him the night before to help her with inventory, which all things considered, wasn't too bad. Rosie was a lot of fun, and at least doing inventory meant that he didn't have to deal with the annoying lunch crowd. Then again, Rosie had asked him to come before the pub even opened, which meant she'd probably want him to do a bit of both.

But now wasn't the time to think about all that. He was late, and he needed to get to work.

He knicked Cormac's broom as he passed the cupboard, and then set off for the pub. Outside it was nice. Everything still looked calm and peaceful this early in the morning. Everyone still asleep, even the pets...It was a shame that Seamus was generally asleep during this time of day.

He landed the broom solidly behind the pub and hopped off, and then headed in through the back door of the pub.

"Rosie! I'm here!"

When he got no answer, he reckoned she was probably asleep still, which--while a little odd for Rosmerta--was nothing he couldn't handle. Rosie deserved the chance to sleep in every once in a while. Besides, he knew what he needed to do. He headed for the storage room and began sifting through the boxes they'd just gotten in, putting things away and checking them off a list as he pulled them out of the box.

After half an hour had passed and Rosie still had not woken up, Seamus decided it was time to check up on her. There were a few things in the box that he wasn't certain about, and she would have to help him with those.

He headed up the stairs two at a time, calling out her name again as he approached her room.

"Rosie," he called as he knocked on the door. "Are you decent?"

When there still wasn't any answer, Seamus frowned, starting to worry a little. This wasn't typical behaviour for his boss. Usually she was up before the sun and busy working long before anyone else ever showed up in the pub.

He knocked again, his brow creasing as he contemplated whether or not he should open her door. Sure, Rosie loved him like family, but that didn't mean he should open her bedroom door when it was possible that she might not be in the best state of dress. After calling out her name again and still receiving no answer, Seamus pushed the door open quietly, peeking his head into the room.

He pushed the door open all the way when he realised the room was empty. He stepped through the doorway hesitantly, afraid that Rosmerta would pop out of the bathroom at any moment wondering why the hell he was nosying about her bedroom. No one came, though, and he stepped even further into the room, taking in the state of it.

Everything seemed normal; although, the bed looked a bit like it was lazily made up, the bedspread just kind of tossed over the bed rather than being tucked in neatly. But that was also pretty normal too, most likely.

He walked past the bed and glanced over at the bathroom, wondering if she could possibly be in there. Wouldn't she have noticed he was in her room by now if she were in there? Nevertheless, he took a few steps forward and knocked on the door, frowning again when there was no response. He pushed the door open just to be sure, and nearly lost his balance when he saw what was inside.

He staggered a bit, using the wall to hold him up as he looked down into the tub. Rosmerta's lifeless face stared up at him, her body almost completely submerged in bloody water. A large slash on her neck had him almost gagging, and he took a few deep breaths and gripped the wall even tighter, needing to regain his balance yet again.

"Rosie?" he managed, his voice breaking, sounding remarkably young. His legs felt rubbery as he moved away from the wall, and he sunk down to the floor next to the tub, his heart pounding in his chest as he looked over what he could see of Rosmerta's body. Her arm was hanging over the edge of the tub, deep gashes along her wrist. He lifted a shaky hand to hers, feeling how cool her skin was.

The panic was beginning to well up within him, and he wasn't sure what to do, bringing his hands to his face and pulling his hair back as he tried to calm himself.

A few tears rolled down his cheeks, and he brushed them away, pulling himself up on his knees so that he could see over the water. "Rosie, what did you do?" he asked, the fear evident in his voice as he brought his hand to the top of her head and brushed her hair away from her face. He felt the bile begin to rise in his throat, and he stood up again quickly, needing to look away from the tub. He walked over to the counter, staring at himself in the mirror for a moment before turning the facet on and splashing cold water in his face.

He looked back over at the tub, only then noticing the note that was on the floor between the tub and toilet. He darted over to pick it up, sitting down on top of the toilet as he read over its contents. It was a suicide note, obviously, but something about it wasn't right. For one thing, he never would have imagined Rosie as someone who would kill herself, even if she hadn't been able to cope with Romilda being gone. Which was bullocks because she was still very much around even if she wasn't alive. There was just something else odd about the note, though, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

In order to avoid completely freaking out, Seamus moved into Rosmerta's room to grab a quill and parchment, scribbling down a note for the aurors.

Emergency upstairs at the Broomsticks. Come ASAP.

-Seamus Finnigan

He stared down at the note for a moment, his jaw dropping as what was odd about the suicide note suddenly came to him.

It wasn't Rosmerta's handwriting.

He was thinking logically. Almost too logically. It was so much easier than succombing to what was really happening in the bathroom. He wasn't sure what he would do if he allowed himself to really think about what he'd discovered in that tub.

He whistled for Rosie's owl as he opened the window, grateful that it swooped down from the eaves of the pub almost immediately. He tied his note to the owl's leg, and then stared at the bird for a moment. "Aurory office. Now." The bird flew off, and Seamus rushed back into the bathroom, picking up the suicide note again and re-reading it.

The handwriting on the note was nothing like Rosmerta's. His heart was beating almost furociously in his chest, but still he refused to acknowledge that Rosie was actually dead. She couldn't be. She couldn't be dead because she hadn't killed herself.

But someone else killed her, he thought, his heart skipping a few beats at the thought, and he pushed his emotions away, needing to remain logical. He sat there for a few moments just staring at the note, only looking up when he heard the door of the pub open and someone start to head up the stairs.